This concrete consists of vanilla custard blended with chocolate toffee, chocolate sprinkles, and malt. I really liked the chopped chocolate toffee because it added a much needed crunch to the custard.

$6.75 might seem a little steep for ice cream, but a) it's in a ballpark b) this thing is HUGE. I got about halfway through before feeling like I was going to die, haha. If you're in the mood for a sweet treat at Nationals stadium, I would definitely recommend giving this concrete a try!

Oh, Trader Joe's, you have done it again! Now, I'm not sure if these pumpkin macarons are totally new, but I'm pretty sure they are because I've never really heard much about them in the past. I have tried their vanilla and chocolate macarons before which are great, so of course I was excited to try the pumpkin version!

I'm pretty sure that these are meant to be defrosted before consumption, but I actually really like these frozen as well, haha. I find these to have a really strong true pumpkin flavor, more so than a pumpkin pie/spice-forward flavor, which I like. Now, texture-wise, these will not really replace a macaron from a bakery, but I still think they taste pretty great. They're a great little seasonal treat to have around for a snack or a small dessert. Thank you Trader Joe's for yet another great pumpkin item!

A few weeks ago N and I met up at Kushi for their Scoutmob brunch. I have been to Kushi before for dinner, but I was excited to check out their relatively new brunch menu. While Kushi offers their own brunch, earlier this year they offered a special brunch through Scoutmob DC, which I was pretty excited about. With all the food we got, this was a great deal!

Yuzu orange mimosa

We also started the set brunch with an order of edamame (not pictured).

Overall this was a great brunch with lots of tasty food that I LOVE (especially sushi, no surprises there). The black sesame gelato was surprisingly very creamy and N noted that it tasted similar to peanut butter, which I agreed with. I'm really glad I got to try Kushi's brunch thanks to the Scoutmob deal, and I would love to come back again!

You may be wondering why I say it's the REAL one - well, back when I got the free Strawberry Lava Fudge cupcake before, it turned out to be a Strawberry cupcake with fudge on top. It was still delicious, don't get me wrong, but I'm happy to add the correct version of this cupcake to my blog :o)

Check out that gooey fudge core! As you may have figured out by now, this is a Lava Fudge cupcake with strawberry frosting instead of the usual vanilla frosting. I LOVE Georgetown Cupcake's strawberry frosting so this was a delicious variation of a great cupcake!

This is a lemon cake studded with fresh blueberries, topped with a fun "ocean" frosting and Shark Week fondant topping. I really like how they used a swirled frosting technique to add more of a water feel to the cupcake. Otherwise, I'm not quite sure what lemons or blueberries have to do with Sharks, but it's a cute idea nonetheless :o)

I've been to Sugo Cicchetti in Rockville, MD a few times now, thanks to the proximity to my work, and I can say that their food is absolutely DELICIOUS. I am already a fan of Cava and I figured an Italian version of a similar concept has to be good - luckily, I was right!

Here are the dishes that I've tried there so far for lunch - if you find yourself in the area, I highly recommend trying this place out, it is such a gem of a restaurant in the midst of suburban chains, haha. The menu consists of tapas-sized housemade pastas, hearty sandwiches, delicious pizzas to share, and lots more to either share or eat on your own. I hear that they have a pretty interesting brunch menu too, and I hope to check it out soon!

Seriously though, these instant coffee packets from Starbucks are super delicious. They recommend mixing this with hot milk (instead of water), and I definitely agree with this suggestion. It isn't quite the same as a Pumpkin Spice Latte from the cafe, but it's still a creamy, pumpkin-y, and delicious option at home.

Luckily, I found a bunch of these at the second Starbucks that I checked by me, but I have seen/heard of places being sold out, so if you are interested and see any where you are, I recommend picking it up right away!

Last winter, the owners of Georgetown Cupcake came out with their first cookbook/memoir, The Cupcake Diaries, which is filled with lots of their popular cupcake recipes and stories about how Georgetown Cupcake built up to such a great success. With their second book, Sweet Celebrations, there are lots of special occasion recipes, as well as more stories about the sisters' celebrations growing up. The book has different recipes for events like birthdays, weddings, holidays, dinner parties, and much more, including behind-the-scenes stories from their DC Cupcakes show.

Luckily, I was in town for the book signing stop in Bethesda, so of course I had to go! S and I met up and saw Katherine and Sophie do a Q&A with the audience (lots of little kids asked questions, as expected in this area, haha), followed by a book signing segment.

The best part of the book signing was finding out that the sisters knew who I was! Well, to clarify, they knew who I was once I told them about this blog and how I tweet about their cupcakes all the time, haha. It was still really fun to know that they have seen my blog posts about their cupcakes before! So, Georgetown Cupcake, if you are reading this now, please keep coming up with new flavors for me to review :o)

Starbucks has come out with a new in-home brewing system called Verismo, and they are celebrating with free lattes!

Per the Starbucks e-newsletter:

"Be among the first to get a sneak peek at our revolutionary new Verismo™ System – and experience how to enjoy Starbucks® lattes, espresso and brewed coffee at home, all from one machine.
Not only will you meet the machine, you'll get to enjoy the result – a sweet, creamy, rich Starbucks® Caffè Latte made especially for you.

This special event is on Monday, Oct. 15, 4-6 p.m. at select Starbucks stores.Find a store hosting the event near you. We'll see you there!"

Here is the Coconut cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake, sighhhhh. This is a "classic coconut cupcake with a vanilla cream cheese frosting capped with a cloud ofshredded coconut".

I mean, I'm sure lots of people love coconut baked goods, right? Let's just say, I'm not one of those people, haha. However, I can see why anyone that does love coconut would like this. It's a pillowy cloud of frosting and soft coconut shards on top of a tasty cake base.

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Hi everyone! I'm off to Seattle for a long weekend to celebrate my nephew's first birthday! In addition to celebrating, I plan on cramming as much seafood as I possibly can in the course of a few days, haha.

This may be the only time to date that I didn't buy a vanilla macaron from Tout de Sweet shop, haha. On the left we have a new (to me) flavor, Salted Caramel, and on the right is their Red Velvet macaron.

The Salted Caramel macaron didn't taste particularly "salted" to me, but that could be because I usually eat these in 2 bites and they're gone, haha. It did have a nice caramel smell and flavor that wasn't too overly sweet. I'd recommend this for anyone that is a fan of caramel sweets. I like that they offer a variety of flavors every time I'm there, and these little macarons are the right amount for a sweet treat!

Is there seriously a better way to celebrate football season????? Yes, chips, salsa, and kettle chips are probably up there too, but c'mon - FOOTBALL OREOS!!!!!!!!

As soon as I saw the Serious Eats Oreo roundup, I knew that I had to find the football ones. I figured they'd be around somewhere this time of year, and luckily I found these at my regular supermarket without much work (MUCH easier than the Birthday Cake Oreos).

Ok, so these are exactly the same as the regular Oreos, they are just shaped differently. The cookie, the filling, everything except the structure is exactly the same. That being said... a minor detail like that isn't going to stop me from enjoying these throughout the football season!